Page 36 - BusinessWest June 23, 2021

Despite the evidence showing that many workers flourish at home — achieving work-life balance by establishing firm boundaries — that blurring of lines between work time and family time is a concern, according to area company leaders we spoke with. The result, oddly enough, can be even less balance than before.
“With more people working from home and hav- ing increased autonomy over their work schedule, it becomes more challenging to differentiate between work time and personal time,” said Patricia Coughlin, Human Resources director at Wellfleet in Springfield.
In Bean’s case, the post-pandemic strategy that developed was to require employees to work in the Hadley office at least three days — a gradual shift, actually, beginning with one day in June, two days in July, and three days starting in August. Anyone who wants to be on site every day is welcome to do so.
“There are certain things that are lost when you’re 100% remote,” he said, giving examples like mentor- ing new employees and collaborative projects. “But if remote is working for you, we don’t want to stop you.”
He understands that some people need to be in the office to function because they have too many distractions at home.
“It depends on their personality. My home is not a distraction at all — once the kids are in school, my home is quiet, with nothing to distract me,” he said, adding, however, that there’s also nothing there to energize him.
“I need energy from other people to function at my best. We all work a little differently, process things a little differently. A lot of flexibility is good, as long as that flexibility works for both the employees and the company — but working at home can lead to issues with work-life balance if the work never goes away.”
Amy Roberts, chief Human Resources officer
at PeoplesBank in Holyoke, said the bank’s leaders learned the organization can be effective while incor- porating different types of work arrangements.
“When the pandemic hit and we had to move to a remote workforce for much of our corporate team, there was no question that
our associates were dedi-
cated and would get the job
done,” she noted. “We had
concerns about remote work
as it relates to data secu-
rity, customer impact, and
overall engagement of our
workforce. But we saw pretty
quickly that we were able to
operate, meet the needs of
our customers, and keep our
team engaged.”
For that reason, the bank
is now working to establish a hybrid model for many roles and will continue to evaluate increased flex- ibility for team members. “We may also consider fully remote roles, but at this time those will be very limited.”
Like Bean, she noted that collaboration can suf- fer when people are not physically working together. “It’s such a big part of our day to day that we have to ensure people can easily get things done and make decisions as a team from anywhere. We feel this is an important aspect of any sustainable hybrid work model.”
Coughlin agreed that the pandemic made Well- fleet’s leaders more aware of the different ways people not only work well, but collaborate with their peers and find satisfaction in their work. As a result, the company plans to offer hybrid work arrange- ments and telework options as part of its model going
forward.
“We learned from our employees that there is no
one-size-fits-all methodology in creating an effec- tive work environment,” she noted. “Throughout the pandemic, it became apparent that the ‘typical’ work
“
home and having increased autonomy over their work schedule, it becomes more challenging to differentiate between work time and
personal time.”
arrangement may not be effective for all people.”
She added that this flexible approach is an attrac- tive model that will allow Wellfleet to expand its tal- ent pool while improving overall job satisfaction and increasing opportunities for growth and effectiveness. Again, however, the key is communication and set- ting boundaries.
“Supervisors and employees should set clear expectations of work schedules, availability, and when responses to e-mails are expected,” she said. “Maintaining this communication reduces the likeli- hood that employees feel the need to be available while on their personal time.”
Unhealthy Relationship
That latter concern is one employment experts across the country have been pondering. Constance Grady, a staff writer for Vox, recently penned an
With more people working from
PATRICIA COUGHLIN
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36 JUNE 23, 2021
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
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